The Humble Potato

The humble potato confuses many of us as although it is a vegetable it doesn't count towards your five a day.

Potatoes are a valuable source of potassium, vitamin C and vitamin B6 and contain dietary fibre which is the type of carbohydrates therefore they are nutritious.

“So why do they not count towards your five a day?

I can explain...

In Britain we follow an official healthy eating advice known as Eat Well guide that sets out the proportion of different food groups that should be consumed for healthy living. Within this system potatoes are classed as starchy carbohydrate part of a meal. If the potatoes were classed as a vegetable then we may eat other starchy carbohydrates in our meal such as rice and pasta alongside potatoes and this would mean that we would end up eating far too much starchy carbohydrates. And this would not be considered healthy.

Hope that makes sense and helped with any confusion over potatoes and your five a day!